I’ve been playing around with the idea of starting a virtual book club with live chats and online hangouts, but I wasn’t really sure how I could pull it off.
Later, I thought it would be cool to deconstruct Jackie Lea Sommer’s debut novel TRUEST on my blog, but somehow still support Jackie.
Then I thought, why not combine the two?
I’m launching #TRUESTsem in two weekends. Here’s the idea, which you may have already seen if you follow me on Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, or Facebook:
I’m going to do a TRUEST read-along and writing seminar in October! TRUEST is a contemporary YA novel, and I’ll be blogging a deconstruction of it, but you’ll have to own or borrow a copy to read the later posts. If you write or want to write contemporary or literary YA, you won’t want to miss this!
We’ll start on October 10, and you can join in or stop by at any time, because you’ll unlock sessions with passwords found in the book. Tweet or post using #TRUESTsem if you’re going to join!
If enough people join the writing seminar, I’ll host some online hangouts so we can discuss the book, just like a book club. Then participants can vote on a genre or a debut novel being published in the spring for our next session in 2017.
Here’s how to join:
- Subscribe to my blog if you haven’t already.
- Buy or borrow a copy of TRUEST. That’s it—the cost of this seminar is to support a debut author.
- Tell your friends to do the above! You can use the image at the bottom of this post on your social media pages. Also check out Jackie’s blog and social media for some great TRUEST memes with pretty images and quotes from the book.
- If you know English teachers, have them encourage their students to join! (Some books may include adult material—I’ll give a parent rating for each book during the first session.)
- Start reading at any time and chat about it (no spoilers!) using #TRUESTsem on social media.
- Take notes!
- Come to my blog on October 10 for the first post.
- Comment on the blog posts if you’ve got questions or would like to join a hangout. If enough people respond, I’ll send out a survey with possible dates & times. The group hangout(s) will be private so we can discuss the books without spoiling it for anybody.
Here’s what I need help with:
- I need a catchy umbrella term for these writing seminars / souped-up book clubs. If you comment below, you’re giving me permission to possibly use the term in future posts.
I’m really excited for this, and I’m hoping we can do it again in March if you miss this one! However, if you grab TRUEST later, the blog posts will still be on my blog. Just unlock with words from the book!
Host, Lara Willard
Lara Willard 